Locate Executable

Locate executable files for specific commands (useful for child_process inside Electron apps)

After building an Electron app using electron-builder, the $PATH variable inside child_process may get set to /usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin which makes it virtually impossible to spawn additional non-UNIX commands.

This package allows you to locate paths of executable files for such commands. You can then use these paths to spawn child_process inside the compiled app.

Install

Tested on macOS only. Let me know if it does/not work on Linux/Windows.

npm install --save locate-executable

locateExecutable(command[,subpath][,callback])

Looks for executable files for specified command in user's home directory recursively. You can narrow down the search by specifying additional subpath.

• command (String) Command you need the executable of
• subpath (String) (optional) Specify a particular subpath you want to look at
• callback (Function) (optional)
  • error (String)
  • paths (Array) List of absolute paths to executables

// Example
import locateExecutable from 'locate-executable'

locateExecutable('jupyter-console', (error, paths) => {
    if (error) console.log(error)

    console.log(paths)
    return
})

NOTE: As the search inside the home directory recursively can take some time, consider running it only on the first launch and saving the paths persistently in something like electron-store.

Contribute

So if you're awesome and want to contribute to this project, go fork, clone and send pull requests! These are the tips for features to work on:

• support for Windows and Linux (if it already doesn't work)

License

MIT